SD 33, PHI 30
Posted: September 15th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 267 Comments »Tough loss.
This game is probably what we’re going to see a lot this year. The offense racked up yards and points. The defense struggled. The overall team played well enough to be right there at the end, but also made enough mistakes to lose. And that’s what happened.
There isn’t one person to blame for the loss. It was a team effort. STs, defense and the offense all had things go wrong that hurt the team.
The defense gave up 539 yards. That’s not good. The front seven didn’t get enough pressure. The secondary didn’t cover well. There were some blown tackles that led to extra yards. There were some missed assignments. The coaches did a poor job. They blitzed up the middle over and over, with virtually no success.
Let’s also give the Chargers some credit. Philip Rivers was terrific today. He did a great job of reading the defense before the snap and then getting the ball to the open guy. Their coaches had an excellent plan and attacked the defense, creating favorable matchups that they took advantage of.
My biggest frustration is with the guys up front. They didn’t hit Rivers nearly enough. He’s a pocket passer and you know right where he’ll be. I’m curious to watch the tape and see how backup players did. Was Brandon Graham used enough? Did the backup DL do anything?
Maybe the biggest revelation from today is just how good DeSean Jackson can be. He was 9-193-1. One TD was called back. He had another play where he just couldn’t get hold of a pass from Vick that was out in front of him. Early on Vick made a poor throw that was too close to the sideline and that led to an incompletion. DeSean could have easily had 250 yards today. He also did a good job as a blocker from what I could tell.
At the end of the year we may look back at this game as an entertaining loss or we may see it as the game that cost us a playoff spot or a higher seed.
Tough loss, but there was a lot that the coaches can build on as well as correct.
_
Re: Over-reaction
You’re never as good as your best game (or 1st half).
And never as bad as your worst half.
Offensively, the Eagles are closer to the 2nd half of the SD game than the 1st half in Washington – though I’m not sure there’s a lot of difference. I think both defenses – SD and Washington – aren’t very good by any stretch. This offense is very good, but has room to grow.
Defensively, the Eagles’ are closer to what we saw in the 2nd half last week and all of today.
But Rivers and the Chargers were near perfect in their execution of a very predictable game plan . . . one I’d think we should see every week until the Eagles’ defense stops it. (Giants’ 1990 SB offense, basically.)
We really need some better pass rush.
AC – I agree. Not much more to say. You nailed it.
good thing we had our pass rushing interior linemen active today.
hark . . . Vince Curry, where are you?
I love when this fanbase gets fixated on one player. First it was HOF Acho, now it’s MVP Curry.
Please don’t include me in that camp.
I’ll defer to the staff.
But I think SteveH was asking.
How can you blame him when Rivers dissected our secondary?
Would Vinny Curry really have made the difference? Seriously?
Some more pressure during the last Chargers drive would have done something.
I don’t know that he would made a big difference. But when you have a defense that is utterly unable to mount a pass rush, benching one of the few guys on the roster who has shown the ability to be disruptive in that role seems like a questionable strategy.
HOF Curry.
I love when some of the fanbase scoffs at depth that could actually contribute on the D side of the ball and at the other portion of the fanbase that wants to see them get a chance to show and prove!!! Yup no pressure on the opposing QB is so great!!!
Theres a big difference between bottom of the roster scrubs like Acho and a 2nd round pick in Curry.
Also big difference between Curry producing against 2nd/3rd stringers in the preseason an starters during the regular season
I was there and it was a tough loss but at least the Cowboys lost!
Curious to see what happens with Vick coming out at the end there. Chip was asked after the game if he could use a timeout to keep Vick in but Chip jut said “No.” Was somebody telling him the wrong thing or did he not know?
It’s a marathon . . . .
Who knows where the Eagles will be 10 games from now.
Right now, the defense looks like what so many commenters thought after Kelly’s hiring . . . an under-talented group.
It is.
Can Bill Davis became a great RZ defensive coordinator? Who knows.
I’d like to see Davis adjust to the adjustments. It seemed Whisenhunt was getting the best of his former colleague in that department.
As others have pointed out, if Rivers is going to check down, dump, and hit Gates in the middle of the field, you’ve got to call off the A-gap blitz and leave at least one linebacker in the lane.
I’ve ask T-Law to discuss the adjustments in this game in his DGR.
After the fist half, defensive adjustments were a must.
The Chargers, if wearing stickum, very likely should have had 14 more points (given the way the defense was playing) — leaving the Birds down 17 at the half.
But Rivers changed up in the 2nd half . . . and, yes, I’d like some discussion on what Davis should have been doing.
Hopefully, this isn’t going to be a checkers-chess issue for Davis. My understanding is he’s 100 percent Scotch-Irish — not a drop of Russian blood.
That last paragraph has me lusting for my liquor cabinet…
Frozen vodka, perhaps? Or is that where you keep your plasma?
Unless there are really egregious strategic errors involved, I am not going to blame Davis for how the defense performs this season, because I think a lack of talent on that side of the ball is the main problem. 10 years of Jim Johnson spoiled us. Most defensive coordinators are not able to make chicken salad out of chicken crap.
Johnson also had some great plays (tho they wasnt that yet). They drafted Simons in 2000, had Vincent, Taylor and Dawkins in the secondary. Had Douglas on the DL, Trotter and Emmons at LB and Hollis Thomas at DT wasnt bad either
When you are repeatedly blitzing A gap with no success and simultaneously getting burnt over the short middle, with out changing, that’s on the coaches. Damn right he gets blame for failing to make a simple adjustment.
You don’t think the fact that he’s forced to call defenses with crummy players has something to do with it? This team has no way to create a pass rush without blitzing, nobody capable of locking down a receiver until a mediocre pass rush gets there, and nobody who can make plays on the ball in the deep middle either. For anyone except a Jim Johnson or Dick LeBeau-level defensive genius, it’s going to be difficult to patch together even a mediocre defense given such severe talent limitations.
I’m not saying Davis is some great defensive mind. Just that as lousy as the talent he has to work with is it’s hard to pin all or even much of the defense’s failures on him.
Maybe if they let their pass rushers rush(Cox, Curry(activate), Graham(playing time)) instead of playing back of the roster 2 gappers (Geathers, Square) all game, they could generate some.
5th/6th best STer being active is not more important than a pass rusher. We saw that today when we kept allllll those STers active and forced 1 punt all day. Waste of depth that we already don’t have.
I agree with you 100% that Curry and Graham need to get on the field more, but I don’t think it will make THAT much difference. Neither of those guys are elite pass rushers. This team doesn’t have any of those.
The play that Royal was wide open looked like a Cover 3 play that Sconces just abandoned his zone.
Was either cover 3 or cover 1. All I know that it wasnt Allen’s fault. Problem is the announces said it was his fault and therefor every fan will think it was.
exactly. wtf was allen supposed to do there? a receiver ran a deep in from one sideline to the other, where nobody was.
I also thought that was the case but Trotter on the Eagles Post Games Show said that Barwin was supposed to drop and cover that area. Not sure if that’s true since you usually don’t want a LB in deep coverage, but I’m confident that play wasn’t on Allen.
It was Barwin. He got sucked up by the TE to that side, but he had the zone behind it and left it.
The offense is awesome. The STs are good. The D would get more stops if they stop benching the pass rushers. The secondary got torched cuz Rivers had ALL DAY to throw.
After this game, Graham and Curry are in the rotation.
Let’s hope Henery works on recovering fumbles in addition to kicking field goals this week.
Exactly . . . get him into the monkey-role.
You would think a kicker could recover a fumble using only the strength of his feet and his powers of concentration.
You saw Henery was on his knees — totally negating the strength of his feet and PofC.
The take away is Henery needs to remain standing at all times.
This is a good strategy… even if it takes two guys to carry him down the field a la Byron Leftwich to keep his feet free.
Isn’t there a rule — the “Jesse Small” rule — about touching kickers who are on the field of play?
Add that to the Leftwich lift, Henery should lead the NFL in special-teams fumble recoveries . . . and scoring.
Another way to keep Henery and those prehensile gams free to ensnare wayward fumbles is the old Endor Horah…
The Horah may also be a way of saving Vick.
The Endor Horah will not only keep him above the fray, but adding to his rushing totals — hit free.
Plus, zero fly-swatter issues at that elevation.
True, but he may have problems with his fundamentals
Yes, but he’s so much less likely to slide head first.
I think the Horah requires further study…
Kelly’s open to seemingly odd-ball ideas. It should be submitted.
One thing it seems Washington and the Chargers were doing is throwing a ton of quick screens. If you look at River’s completions, I’d say 80%+ were within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. It is difficult to get to the QB on such short patterns. I think the CBs have to press off the line and not give away any freebies. It seems whenever SD got to 3rd down, it was always 3rd and a few yards and not 3rd and long.
That said, I don’t think I saw Graham out there except for special teams. If they don’t start bringing more pressure, I think they need to give him more snaps.
There were some serious bright spots in this game: DeSean obviously, who could have single handedly won this game, Earl Wolff looked good at first glance, and Ertz was finally getting the ball with room to run.
You also can’t argue with the standings, first place baby! Only 4 days to wait till we can reclaim that sole position on top.
Good points.
40 passing plays at the snap — assuming a package play and defensive look.
And just 18 running plays at the snap.
Where are all the folks crying to run the ball more?
______________
Does Time of Possession matter?
58 plays, total, for the Eagles.
75 plays for the Chargers (2 kneel-downs not counted).
Chargers held the ball for 40 minutes and change.
_______________
Answer, yes, TOP matters.
How much? Seems to me it depends on how the Eagles’ defense performs.
TOP mattered only because the D was crapstastic. Had they just been able to get a stop or two more, TOP wouldnt have mattered.
I kind of wished we had slowed it down on the last FG drive. Anything to keep our defense off the field.
I dont think we expected to be so explosive on that drive.
True, though as Mark Cooperberg notes in his comment I think we could have at least forced the Chargers to burn their time-outs (once we got down to the red zone).
We could just have scored a TD and it wouldnt have mattered 😛
That would’ve been too easy on my heart, Anders!
I was thinking the same thing….”don’t score too early AND score a flippin’ touchdown.” This had game winning FG for the Chargers written all over it once the Eagles scored a FG with 2 minutes left.
Exactly.
The conventional thought is that TOP often contributes to a D being fantastic AND that a craptastic D leads to a time of possession disadvantage. Though, usually, when an opposing coach is playing a team with an offense that is proving to be too much for the defense, the opposing coach takes the strategy of keeping the opposing offense off of the field. The Eagles’ coaches did not choose to do that at the end of this game.
TOP doesn’t matter. Getting stops on D
If you have the ball, then that IS a stop on D. The other team’s offense can’t score when you have the ball.
The Eagles going for the 1 minute drill with three minutes to go is dumb.
will the defensive coordinator be called “Billy” once again?
Worse than that, I think
I can think of a name….
Juan?
How ’bout “SJ Davis”?
Sorry if I missed something but what does the “S” stand for? If it’s not appropriate for family consumption I’ll leave it to my imagination 🙂
May not be . . . but it’s “Sean.”
Me too. I’m going with William.
I got a few…
Curry and Graham are well rested for Andy’s WCO Thursday night, should that fact interest the coaching staff. Andy will finally be pleased he drafted Nate Allen.
I think I laughed too hard at the last part. Now I’ll go cry now.
I do wonder if there will be some awkward moments this week between Andy and his staff…
INT. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS’ PRACTICE FACILITY
DOUG PEDERSON: So obviously we need to exploit Nate Allen. He is a major weakness.
ANDY REID: Let’s not be too quick to call him a weakness.
DOUG PEDERSON: Oh, um, well, based on the film, he doesn’t seem to cover or tackle with any sort of effectiveness, so we should probably try to —
ANDY REID: Hmmm. I don’t know. He’s really shown some stuff. I think he’s going to be a solid player. Whatever we do, let’s avoid throwing it near Casey Matthews.
DOUG RIFLES THROUGH HIS NOTES SEARCHING FOR ANY EVIDENCE THAT MATTHEWS IS EVEN ON THE EAGLES ANYMORE.
DOUG PEDERSON: I’m not sure our offensive strategy should hinge on —
ANDY REID: Great job, Dougie. Doing a heckuva job.
ANDY LUMBERS OUT OF DOUG’S OFFICE. HE DRIFTS TOWARD THE OPEN DONUT BOX IN THE KITCHEN WHERE BOB SUTTON – THE SILVER-CROWNED DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR – INTERCEPTS HIM.
BOB SUTTON: Hey, coach.
ANDY REID (pissed): Bob.
BOB SUTTON: You know, our number one goal this week should be to slow down McCoy. He is an outstanding running back who poses significant —
ANDY REID: I’m gonna stop you right there, Bobby. If McCoy is really “that” good, then why didn’t I ever use him?
STUNNED, BOB DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO RESPOND.
ANDY REID: Exactly. Now, if you’ll kindly clear out of the kitchen, I’ve got an important meeting in here or something.
Priceless . . . like your steers.
Very depressing game. Without a secondary and pass rush, its hard to win. Many Eagles fans said before the game that the Chargers OL was weak? If so, we are in real trouble.
It was suppose to be weak, but the RBs did a great job picking up blitzes and the OL did a good job handling stunts.
It is weak. We have to acknowledge that part of the reason they looked so good is that our defense really stinks.
ACViking said this up above but, this defense is closer to 2nd half of Washington game and all of this game. Yes, our defense stinks. How bad do they stink is yet to be determined.
Do we need to score 40 a game to have a chance?
Well, I had to air out my house after the game because of the stink emanating from my television.
Welcome aboard.
I was thinking the same thing…can’t be an Eagle fan without the heartache.
“Do we need to score 40 a game to have a chance?”
Yes.
I was texting my sister all throughout the 2nd half today’s game that I need “mercy and alka seltzer” to watch this defense!
It’ll be fun seeing them get to 40 though!
Their line is weak. That doesn’t mean that they can continue to put inferior pass rushers on the field.
Graham and Curry, with Cole, would have had a field day together.
I don’t know why they think we need a million NTs and and 4-techs.
called 3-4 defense. The pass rush comes from blitzes and the OLB.
I say again, this is NOT Kelly’s defense. This is Reid’s defense with some mild upgrades in the back 4.
We’re at least 2 years away from Kelly’s players at LB and DB.
And great pass-rushing LBs don’t fall off trees.
Agree. Also a guy like Cole is not what he was 2 years ago.
Trade guys like Graham and Curry next off season for picks. Draft a lot of D players next draft.
The pass rush comes from guys who can actually rush the passer. Graham is an olb.
On passing downs plenty 3-4 teams go to a 4-man d-line. Curry is our best interior rusher. Graham is our best outside guy. You don’t keep them on the bench in order to bring a blitz every down.
True.
But I think we’ll see more teams across the NFL go to the “no huddle” — as SD did today — precisely to prevent those sorts of substitutions.
Think this is one of the mistakes Davis made this week in his gameplan. Had some success with A-gap blitzes last week and just assumed they would be just as effective again this week.
Two years ago the Eagles started Asante Samuel and Dmitri Patterson (and Joselio Hanson). The pass defense sucked, and we got rid of the bums. Then the Eagles had Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The pass defense sucked, and we got rid of the bums. Then the pass defense had Williams and Fletcher (injured), and so on.
I think we can predict the future at this point because it’s not far off from the past.
Agreed with all above….when your QB throws for 2 TD’s, runs for 1TD…and you drop 30 points on a team travelling across the country…you MUST win those games. Mark my words, this game will matter much, much more later this season. Write that down
This isn’t true at all. Pass defense only fell apart last year after Castillo was fired. 2009-11 they were in the top 10.
Coach Kelly’s time management after Desean’s completion brought us to the 14 yard line is inexcusable. The clock was running at 2:32 and would have run to 2 minutes if we just let it run. Then we had first down at the 14 with 2 minutes left and the chargers with 2 time outs left. Worst case scenario, we run the ball (or have high percentage passes) and kick a field goal. The chargers burn both time outs and the chargers have less than one minute left to win the game (with no time outs).
I cannot comprehend why he ran any plays with the clock running before the 2 minute warning. Our defense was clearly overwhelmed by their offense and needed any help they could get (an offense racing the clock with no time outs). Other than a lame possibility of “catching them off guard” what rationale could Coach Kelly have had for this clock management (and I am not talking about the last 20 seconds of the game)?
Good point. I was wondering the same thing.
I thought the play-calling was much worse than the time management. Really, would it have mattered if San Diego had 1:20 to work with? They were getting 15 to 20 yard chunks effortlessly. The much bigger issue at hand was scoring a TD there.
Time remaining changes the play calling of the opposition and the urgency of each play. Who knows if it would have made a difference, but the proper response for a coach is to not shrug it off and just assume that it would not make a difference. Kelly has to do better.
Don’t be dazzled by the sparkly new coach. If Andy Reid does that sort of clock management, we hear about it for 8 weeks or 8 years. You run the clock down while advancing towards the goal line as soon as your team reaches scoring position. It’s the smart thing to do.
What you don’t do is get the ball with three minutes on the clock and give it back to a potent offense with two minutes to go and four downs to play with. The Eagles defense was destined to fail against nearly any team not coached by Rex Ryan in that situation.
And again, all of that is second to the necessity of scoring a TD there. This is my feeling in every situation that comes up similar to this – fans focus on running down the clock, when the red zone is the one area on the field where some defense of the pass actually still takes place these days. My point being, the TD is far from automatic there. Of course there would still be plenty of time for Rivers to drive the field for the go-ahead score, but I’d rather take my chances +4 with 1:50 to go, rather being tied with 1:05 left.
Agree with this. had we scored a TD, we would most likely have won.
Had the Eagles scored a touchdown, Phillip Rivers would have still had two minutes, two time outs, and four downs to work with against a defense that had faced approximately 70 plays at that point and given up 30 points.
They may have pulled out the win, but I doubt it. There was just too much time left on that clock for me to be optimistic.
All the Chargers TD drives was like 5 min drives. Good chance they wouldnt have been able to go 80 yards in less than 2 min
Based on the performance of the defense, I have no confidence in the Eagles to make a stop for a field goal or a touch down for that Chargers’ defense with two minutes to go and two time-outs, and four downs to play with.
It makes no sense to go into the mode of a one minute drill with three minutes to go. For all that has been made of Chip Kelly’s vaunted running game, this is the time when you eat clock. This is the time when you move the chains with urgency but control by making smart plays. This is the time when they impose their will — or they settle for overtime.
Even with the big plays, if that is what you choose, you let the clock burn and force the opposition to burn time outs.
At worst, you give them the ball with a minute to go and a chance to win the game on a field goal. There’s no way around it. You don’t give the ball back to an offense that had had the ball for 38 minutes of the game at that point.
The clock management on offense was boneheaded, and the coaches — who took much credit last week — deserve blame.
A good coach should be able to do both though.
So is Jackson officially a no. 1 WR now? He got 16 catches for 297 yards and 2 TDs trough two games.
Just imagine this offense with Maclin in as well
I wouldn’t call him a true #1 receiver yet. He played two weak secondaries in a row.
Getting 150 yards per game is still great no matter what. Also he could have had 300 yards today if Vick had been slightly more on target
Jerry Rice was pretty good.
McCoy and Jackson have combined for 648 yards in the first two games. The Cowboys offense has combined for 649. I think that makes Jackson a #1 WR.
and watch out once the offense stop making stupid mistakes
Of course he is. We’re seeing just how retarded Reid/MM were in how they used him the last couple of years.
Congratulations on your big win in Philadelphia, Chargers! Please accept this package of Billy Davis and your choice of Safety as your prize!
Seriously, that was very uninspiring play calling. I wasn’t keen on the Davis hire given his history in his previous stops as DC and even less so right now. 30 PPG is horrendous.
The offense scored 30, but seemed to be able to come up with a big penalty at the worst times. Also, why the hurry up when you had 2 minutes left and a defense that couldn’t stop a high school team? Take your time and eat as much clock as possible.
Speaking of penalties, congratulations on the hat trick, Sconce Williams.
(BTW, I was at a bar watching this game listening to a lone Giants fan cheering everytime the Birds did something stupid while 20 or so Birds fans contemplated planting a beer glass in his head.)
Wish I had been there, I need a drink – more than one. This loss is hitting me hard.
It didn’t help. i was just getting louder the more I drank, which is fine when the Eagles are winning. Not so much when every other word out of your mouth is “fuck”.
I think you might experience more loses this year than in 4 years combined under Kelly.
Don’t take it hard – the Eagles do this a few times every season. Hopefully with time Chip can break the cycle.
This was not a team effort. This was a defensive failure. Even with the hiccups on offense, not CLOSE to being the problem. SMH
Right there with you, SMH
We all knew the secondary was suspect before the year started. It wasn’t surprising to see them struggle. Kendricks missed a ton of tackles today and took some bad angles. The DL was the biggest disappointment of all. Cox was underwhelming, Sopoaga contributed nothing. Thornton probably had the best game, but it wasn’t like he lit people up routinely. The backup DL was awful. They gave absolutely no push. Rivers had all day to throw and they let Mathews run all over them. I didn’t see anything productive from Logan, which is really disappointing because I was high on him. Kelly must really think Curry sucks if he can’t get on the field ahead of Square or Geathers.
Gates just destroyed Kendricks today on every 3rd and 5.
Re: D-Jax . . . and the Box-and-1
If you’re a D.C. who doesn’t have a cornerback like Revis or Deion Sanders in his prime (or with an ability to play up the Nnamdi’s reputation) . . . don’t you just double Jackson every play? Single up everyone else.
Just attack the box. Let McCoy beat you try to beat you with 30+ carries against 7-8 men in the box (depending on the Eagles’ formation).
I’ll be surprised if any other team lets D-Jax have the amount of what seemed like single coverage all day on the outside.
You have to think he will start seeing more and more of that especially since Avant can be covered by a guy with a walker and Cooper is an easy 1-on-1 from a speed perspective.
A walker . . . I’m crying.
Me too…
lol/smh
What if Maclin didn’t get hurt?…
I think he’d be a big help. Getting him the ball in space is what was supposed to be his strength coming out of Mizzou. I think he’d be very dangerous in this offense and would (along with Jackson) force the safeties to deep coverage and help our run game.
If the Eagles is in 2 TE set.
Lets say you only rush 4, have 7 in box, that leaves 4 guys to cover 3 guys. I would take that all day long with a Ertz or Celek on a LB.
We may see that, I think, if Vick can hit Jackson twice for long TDs against KC.
Defenses will have no choice. There’s no CB who can run with Jackson. Not one.
On most plays, it’s numerically impossible to double Jackson, have 8 men in the box, and have single coverage on everyone else.
I wrote “7-8” in the box, depending on the Eagles’ formation.
I dont think you can ever have 8 in the box against the Eagles.
2 TEs, 2 WRs, 1 HB.
You’ll get 8 in the box, with 1 on Cooper and 2 on D-Jax (and TEs covered by 2 LBs or 1 LB and SS).
Would it work? I haven’t a clue.
But if the Eagles throw up 30 points every week, it’d worth a try.I
Who cover the split TEs then?
I wrote, “depending on the formation.”
If the Eagles split 4 out, then at most 6 can be in the box — as we saw in pre-season.
But D-Jax would still be doubled and the defense would have an extra man in the box.
I doubt the Eagles would ever go heavy formation on more than a couple plays every other week.
It seems so far like you’re right.
And Casey’s drop today didn’t help his cause.
Congratulations to the Chargers on becoming this years Super Bowl Champs.
Dang I forgot about that! The Chargers had Houston on the ropes last week…who knows. That would be kinda crazy if the Chargers do that though. Maybe we should try and win our home opener 🙂
We did last year and the Ravens still won the SB
Oooops! Thanks for that reminder! I’m slipping 🙂
And DRC with a pick of Manning.
I think, I could have picked that one off. That was vintage lolEli throw.
Watching DEN/NYG… Don’t know whether to be happy Eli just threw another pick or angry that it was DRC who intercepted it.
always happy vintage pre SB Eli seems to be back. Hope he is still there in a few weeks
We’ll help him get out of his slump 🙂 sorry, it’s too easy to see that as true this afternoon.
LEVEL OF BLOW
In the immediate aftermath of the loss I was filled with a rage that would’ve caused Cereberus* to tuck his fiery tail between his legs.
* the three-headed hell-hound who guards the gates of the underworld
However, I’ve found my recovery time to be remarkably quicker than most of last year’s suckfests. Why? Because we shouldn’t be surprised by this. We know the defense needs work; we know Rivers is going to get rid of the ball quickly; we know the secondary compares favorably to an enema bag…
In all, I’d put this at a medium BLOW. A game that we could have won and were in the driver’s seat with under two minutes left, but also a game featuring a new defensive scheme and 900 rookies against a veteran quarterback I’d like to punch in the face.
Exactly! First half of last week gave us a false positive concerning the work in progress the D is.
I’ll take it as a medium blow…thanks.
The Eagles get the ball with three minutes to go and an opportunity to run down the clock and tie or take the lead. They instead decide to run no clock, tie, and give the ball back to Phillip Rivers with four downs and two minutes to play with.
We get it. Chip Kelly likes to defy convention. He likes to play fast. He zigs when others zag.
But even if the Eagles score a touchdown on that drive, giving the ball back to the Chargers offense with two minutes to go is inexcusable. He’s not just an offensive coordinator; he’s a head coach, and he has to consider what comes after the ball switches hands to the defense.
The best defense to end that game is an offense that eats the clock and takes the last play.
I’d say the key problem wasn’t that they didn’t run clock it’s that they didn’t score the touchdown. Maybe Ertz needed to stay inbounds on that long reception. But that wasn’t Kelly’s call.
Interesting point about the Ertz reception and clock stoppage. We seem to still have too much trouble in the RZ. Hopefully the team will improve over the course of the season, but many of us are haunted by poor play calling/ poor execution in the RZ.
Well said. There had to be really NO confidence in this defense at the end of the game. We could’ve stole one today, but…we didn’t.
I don’t understand how much time you think the Eagles would have been able to run down there? You really think if Rivers had only a minute to go against our defense, he wouldn’t have found Brown or Gates wide open in the middle of the field three or four times?
Score the TD – it is far from automatic there. That’s the goal. Regardless of how long it takes. The playcalling there was very debatable and that should be the focal point of the discussion.
Hopefully Chip can get better at clock management. Oregon blew so many teams out he hasn’t really had much practice at handling close games. He’s been shaky in both games so far this season too.
This team reminds me so much of the Mike Belotti era Ducks. An offense that can hang points on just about anybody, but a defense that was so suspect that you were happy if they came away with just a field goal.
In reality, besides the offense being really, really good, I think we’ll find that this defense is average or slightly below average. You have to give a lot of credit to the SD coaching staff. They killed us with those short passes and ran enough good run plays to keep us honest. I worry a lot about next week because KC does pretty much the same thing, though their team is overall better.
We’ll see next week if the Eagles can stop a West Coast style offense.
It’s not just that SD ran good plays. The Eagles didn’t force them into any negative plays the whole game. They had one sack but otherwise they never stopped them for any sort of loss. All their running plays seemed to gain at least 3 yards. Rivers didn’t throw an incompletion until well into the 2nd quarter. Can’t play defense like that.
That’s what worried me from the beginning: playing on our side of the LOS. No rush, no penetration on run plays. Pushed off the ball all day…ouch.
I think that their play calling was excellent because frankly we couldn’t stop any of it. I got sick and tired of watching third and medium dump off passes to their TE who would post up Mychael Kendricks and then do a spin move for YAC. Exploiting your opponent’s weakness is excellent play calling. And they executed the heck of that.
they had lots of weaknesses to choose from, to be fair. Plus they were in 3rd and short more often than not because the Eagles never stopped them for no gain or a loss. On every 1st or 2nd down they were either completing passes or getting 3+ yards on the ground.
I think we all knew the defense was going to be a work in progress. The hope is that they’ll get better as the year goes on. The division looks surprisingly weak, so let’s just enjoy the offense.
Re: The Post Mortem
Here were are picking the the game apart like a vulture on the carcass of one of Baloophi’s prized bull steers.
BUT LOOK AT WHAT IT TOOK FOR THE CHARGERS TO WIN.
San Diego was near perfect — even with the 2 turnovers (they wash with Casey and Henery at least).
Every week, the Eagles should be in the game as long as they avoid turnovers.
________________
As an aside, that’s what happened in Jimmy Johnson’s second year in Dallas (7-9 season off a 1-15 season). The Cowboys were incredibly competitive but lost because they didn’t have a pass rush and forced too few turnovers.
The Eagles need a better pass rush. And, as Anders wrote, it won’t be coming from a down lineman generally — but OLBs.
We saw today what Reid said when he explained why the Wide 9 . . .
A pass rush makes the coverage better.
I’d appreciate keeping my husbandry practices out of the discussion, thanks.
Humble regrets . . . but I thought because they’re prize winning, it’s something you’d be forgive.
Tommy,
Thank you for acknowledging DJax blocking. Finally someone other than a few fans have! He was doing it last year too but went largely unnoticed or unmentioned.
I’m beginning to think we really needed Star Lotulelei more than we need Lane Johnson, at least in the short term.
We need an OLB more than NT.
Take a good, long, look at Sopoaga.
You mean the guy who plays like 25% of the snaps?
Upgrading a game break OLB over Cole would be much more effective in terms of getting to the QB
regardless, I think the key reason the D sucked was that the center of the defense wasn’t really commanding more than one player.
Yes, we could upgrade at NT, but not worth it unless you get a true game changer and I wasnt sure Star would be that
Gonna be a good, long, cold stare at Fletcher Cox in the Game Review. Don’t know what it was, but the DEs and NT did not play well, in terms of occupying blocks.
Cox has really been a disappointment so far. Not getting any push in the pass game.
Anders . . .
Does Cox look heavier to you this year? And I don’t mean more muscular either.
I still say Cox as a 2 gap defender is an incredible waste of talent.
But Roseman said Cox and Curry and Kendricks and everyone he’s ever been responsible for drafting is “versatile” . . . and can fit in any scheme, playing at a high level.
Are we ready to question Roseman’s evals so soon?
Cox more than have the talent to play 3-4 DE. His problem has been that even when he is pass rushing, he hasnt been as effective as last year
Anders . . .
I agree. Cox will be good. He’s never been in a 3-4 defense.
Just being sardonic.
Maybe he will turn it on late just like last season.
Not quite ready to question the evals…I am willing to question Billy Davis. There wasn’t much out there to go with, but I hate that hire. He’s done nothing anywhere in the NFL on his previous stops. And the fact that we have almost all 1 gap defenders in the front 7 and he’s still jamming the 2gap 3-4 down their throats is mind boggling.
That is on Kelly. He wants a 3-4 D, that is why he hired a 3-4 DC.
The hire is on Kelly, but the evaluation of the defense is on the coordinator IMO. I believe Kelly when he says that he leaves the defense to the defensive coaches. Davis also said he would run the defense his players are best suited to run, so I’m wondering what Davis sees exactly to keep them in a 3-4.
EDIT: also the play calling on D is terrible.
I think this is a learning season. Even our Owner have said that in an interview.
I mean if you want to switch D system, you have to do it fully. Cant do it half hearted
Reminds me how I’d hoped Reid would have hired Bob Sutton as the Eagles DC after canning McDermott.
I think Sutton would have been good for Kelly, too.
I actually suggested that name here (or Igglesblog — if T-Law hadn’t started his own gig yet).
Should the Eagles have parted with their 3rd round pick — who turned out to be Bennie Logan — to move up 1 spot for Dion Jordan?
No.
shah8 . . .
Is Bennie Logan the answer at NT? Now or long term?
If not, then the Eagles should paid the price for Dion Jordan — unless Roseman didn’t have Jordan rated as a *Game Changer*.
I think Atlanta did the right thing a couple years ago parting with draft picks for a guy rated as a “game changer” — because draft picks are just so unpredictable in terms of production.
Exhibit A: Vinny Curry.
Only position where its worth it is QB (like what Wash did). It usually doesn’t work though b/c it kills your depth. This has basically been Jerry Jones’s draft strategy for the last 20 years and one of the biggest reason for the Cowboys lack of success despite all the stars on their teams.
Disagree. Falcons were in a spot in which they had a talented QB and a solid supporting cast across the board, but no player who scared the opposition. They were not going to break their ceiling at the time by simply adding depth. It was a well-taken calculated risk.
I’m curious how much people think Whisenhunt knowing Billy the Kid from his Arizona days factored into the outcome today? The execution of the Chargers’ offense today was uncanny. They looked like a well-oiled machine and clearly had some idea of where and when we were sending our blitzers (although not hard to uncover a tendency when we use the same blitz up the middle 4 or 5 plays in a row). I really HOPE this was a factor today.
Wouldnt have mattered if those blitzes or 4 man rushes would have been more effective.
Biggest Chip Kelly error was not taking a timeout to give Vick and Celek a breather. Talent is flat in the NFL, and not in college football. At that point in the game…I don’t want to see Foles, or anyone else coming in cold trying to credibly fool anyone by passing when they should be running.
Kelly’s said his offense can be run by either QB.
Right?
shah8 . . .
Seriously, that’s an very interesting break-down.
Kelly said in his PC that, that was not an option. Maybe he didnt knew the rule?
Also, Foles just locked onto Jackson, had he gone trough his progression, the TE was wide open over the middle for 8-10 yards
You do not want a QB just inserted into the game to make his own reads.
A QB has to go trough his reads no matter what. If he does not do that, it will lead to interceptions.
No, I’m saying that that was the play. There was no other play *to* read.
Can’t wait to read all the NFL writers doing a 180 from last week.
And the 5-6 more they’ll do this year — every time the Eagles don’t win or run 100 plays or fail to meet some other Oregon metric.
______________
One thing Buddy Ryan said that applies to the writers’ eval of Kelly . . .
“He [Kelly] doesn’t have any East Carolinas on [his] schedule here.”
The difference is Kelly gets that. The writers? Not so much yet.
There is a lot to discuss and i have been, but in the end I don’t put all the blame on Chip. He is the Head Coach, and the ultimate responsible guy, but in the end it’s really simple: You don’t win games when you allow 30+ points.
Chip is an offensive guy, we all know that, I don’t really blame him for the defensive side of things. I blame him for the hire of Bill Davis, which i did when we first heard who Chip chose to be his most important coach by calling Davis the “Worst.Hire.Ever.EVER!”. I still don’t like the hire, I like the thing about a hybrid 43under/34 defense, which I thinks fits the current NFL very well, but i’m not sold on Davis.
That being said, I fully expected this. The Eagles was a bad team last year, especially on defense and I doubt that will change significantly in one off-season. You can only hope to improve, and I think we’re slowly improving. That doesn’t change the fact that we still have WAY to many starters not suited for the NFL and to be honest, I don’t really see great things in our backups/role-players. How are we supposed to change that fact in one(ONE) off season, especially with a new scheme who doesn’t really fit the underperforming players from the former staff.
Chip has done what he knows, and installed a very good offense, utilizing the playmakers we already had in place. Now its time to find out if he chose the right guy to run the side of the ball that he doesn’t know anything about, but how about we give Davis a decent defensive backfield and a pass rusher before we start the witch hunt. I promise, I’ll be the leader of the group purposed with getting Bill Davis out of Philly when the time comes, but the guy is trying to improve a terrible unit and he doesn’t even have an edge rusher to help his DB brigade of Nnamdi/DRC look-a-likes.
Patrick —
You make some very valid points.
Since the Davis hire, I’ve always contrasted it with Vermeil’s hiring of Marion Campbell — who installed the 3-4 in ’77 for the Eagles, using the same personnel as Vermeil had his first year . . . with one key exception (rookie NT Charlie Johnson – who went to the Pro Bowl his second year).
Campbell was a star DC. Like Jim Johnson.
But, I think as you’re comment supports, while Campbell was the beneficiary of some great pieces that fit the 3-4/2-gap, Davis has not been so lucky.
Maybe the worst thing Kelly could have done was run out to a 33-7 lead on the Washington football club.
Regardless, I’m with you . . . this is all a work in progress.
The defense really needs a lot of difference makers. Some are already on the team, of course i’m referring to Cox and Kendricks who need to step up. Cox have shown a lot of promise, but I want him to be dominating and disruptive and he hasn’t looked great this year.
I haven’t really seen a lot I like from Kendricks. He NEEDs to get stronger and his tackling is highly erratic, but i love his speed and what that could mean in terms of him as a playmaker.
I really like Barwin, I thinks he is good against the run, acceptable as a passrusher and VERY good as a coverage LB, but he isn’t a gamechanger. We have to get some presence of the other side from him. Cole is gone next year IMO, Graham never lived up to his draftpick due to the injury and a scheme change didn’t help him, I doubt he will be the guy.
DeMeco, Thornton and Fletcher/Cary are all just plain good NFL players who can play on a good defense.
I think Chung can be a good box safety if we get a deep lying center fielder behind him, similar to the Earl Thomas/Kam Chancellor partnership in Seattle.
Meco can run the defense, Cedric can support Cox and Fletcher/Cary would be good #2 corners, kinda like Sheldon Brown, but similar to Barwin, both Chung and Fletcher/Cary needs differencemakers opposite them to be those players on a great defense.
So, we need a premiere pass rusher, and either a lockdown corner to go with a decent coverage safety or a good starting caliber CB to go with a playmaking S to patrol the back end of our defense. And while we need that, our QB is 33 years old, on a 1 year deal and highly inconsistent throughout his career, meaning that at some point in Chips tenure, we have to consider drafting a QB in the first round.
Offense: Missed opportunities (Vick to DeSean, penalties)
Defense: Inability to stop SD on 3rd Downs (Kendrick’s got beat over and over by Gates. Same move fake inside with push off cut outside)
Non-existent pass rush (please activate Vinny Curry!!)
ST: BIG missed FG at end of 1st half
I’m done. Commenting again after Thursday.
Oh, and btw! Ain’t Chung the goat of the week? Bad, bad, BAD holding call.
I say whole D. Yes that was bad, but we also some other crap tackles or blown coverages.
By that logic, isn’t Vick the goat of the week? He didn’t get the Eagles in the EZ despite being in the RZ inside 2 minutes?
well…logically, I suppose I *could* blame Foles.
Or I could blame DJax for the penalty or the ST’ers not recovering the fumble.
Think the big moment is still Chung thinking he has to have a security blanket and hold on to a non-targeted receiver.
NOOOOOOO!!!
Big moments are missing wide open receivers 10 yards ahead of the nearest defender!!!
Games lost in April count just as much as games lost in September.
Cliche but true.
Frankly, Baloophi nailed the culprit here . . . Henery’s missed fumble recovery.
We’re still unbeaten in the NFC.
If Fletcher Cox doesn’t live up to his laurels anytime soon we may have another first round failure.
He has 1 sack in two games. Overreaction much?
No. I am just not spoiled with first round success lately.
You mean the illegal formation penalty on Johnson that cost a first down?
Wasn’t that a touch down? The one where Jackson was so wide open I thought he was playing the Eagles defense?
It was a TD. Tho I think we scored one later on same drive
May have been.
The game has run together at this point.
I took Baloophi’s advice and went to the liquor cabinet.
haha
Johnson gets a free Lane since he’s a rookie. Cox is in his second year and expect more from him, especially against such an O line.
Maybe give Cox a free pass because of totally new scheme he never have played before?
I can’t hear this scheme thing any more… Yes the same can be said for Nate Allen then as well.
Coverage is another thing. 1 gapping and 2 gapping is two different animals.
At what point does Cox say Eff it and rush the passer how he wants to? I wish he would have today after our 20th blitz right up the middle that didn’t work
Re: The Plus Side
If Gus Bradley’d become the Eagles’ coach, I think we’d all be feeling very differently about this season.
Instead of utter anguish, we’d be talking about how the Eagles may get the 1st pick in the draft and need a franchise QB.
Or, at least, whether Clowney can play a 3-4 OLB
well we’d probably feel better about the defense
In other (depressing) news: Peyton & Co may very well be putting 50+ points against us in a couple of weeks.
Hopefully he’s nice enough to call off the dogs at that point.
GermanEagle . . .
I just checked that score and began feeling very, very sick.
But who knows . . . he used to light up Jim Johnson. Then McDermott shut him down totally.
I am just watching it. That Holliday guy is awesome!
To think, Holliday was claimed off waivers by the Broncos.
From the Texans, who also cut loose Jacoby Jones.
Jeez.
Where was Roseman on that guy?
That was more the blocking than Holliday. Blocking matters so much, but only the returner gets the blame/fame
But he’s DJ2 x 5
Well, some of the issue is that Damaris Johnson doesn’t have a top gear speed like, say, Corderelle Patterson.
True.
But DJ2 may have more acceleration out of a cut than anyone other than McCoy.
I suspect you agree. And, like I, appreciate DJ2 as a very good find by Roseman and the Birds.
agreed. He still does a good job of getting field position.
Agreed.
I like Damaris, but wish i could see him on O some more.
That blocking didn’t have anything to do with his blazing speed and quickness.
No, but Jackson would most likely have scored a TD there as well 😛
You know, since the middle of last year, Eli hasn’t really been Eli. Wonder if something’s up. They do have great receivers in NY.
watching the broncos D, I’m jealous of a team that can play pass defense.
Bill Davis thinks they should blitz up the middle.
Bill Davis doesn’t have cover guys who can knock down passes.
Bill Davis doesn’t have a whole lot of anything in the secondary. I’m just bitter after yet another defensive bed crapping.
Like DRC?
Give Bill “TDNCB” Davis Von Miller and Darrelle Reavis, and I think this defense — and his play calling — would look a lot difference.
Especially if Miller’s not on suspension.
Give any coordinator all pros at key positions, and he’ll look amazing. Davis doesn’t have a secondary to really work with, but he does have some talent. More than enough talent in the front 7 to at least make Rivers uncomfortable.
The so called talent didnt win any 1v1 battles. Scheme and play calling can only go so far, but at some point your players have to win some battles.
http://www.phillymag.com/eagles/2013/09/15/how-rivers-chargers-decoded-the-eagles-defense/
Rivers knew what was coming on D. It’s easy to stop the other team when you know what they’re going to do, and that’s on Davis. He is also in charge of getting these guys coached up to win those battles. Either he’s dropping the ball or his position coaches are.
But like I said above, I need to stop hating on the guy. He’s our DC and I’m stuck watching his defense for the next year or two at least.
Most defenses knows what is coming against the Eagles and will not be able to stop us because we have the players to win those matchups. Goes the other way around as well.
I mean, are the Seahawks D great because of scheme, play calling or players? There scheme is pretty basic, they rarely blitz because they have some awesome players there can win there 1v1 matchups.
One last point though: That San Diego line has players the quality of King Dunlap starting on it, so I thought they should of won some of those battles, so I’ll give you that.
It’s hard to win 1v1 battles when your defense is on the field for 40 minutes.
The defensive cupboard is pretty bare — particularly at OLB, where this scheme demands explosive pass rushers. Even with the free-agent signings.
That’s how I see it, at least.
I should probably stop hating on Davis. For better or worse, he’s our DC at least for this year and probably next. I just hope the offense can score 40 a game to keep the team in it.
Louis Riddick @LRiddickESPN2m
#Chiefs Dontari Poe: 4 solo tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL’s, 2 QB hits. Big season continues…
Seems Poe is proven the doubters wrong.
Kelce is going to have troubles next game
Poe just needed the love of Big Red and Tommy Brasher.
I believe T-Law would support that theory.
For those unhappy with Bill “TDCMB” Davis and the F-Cox, their position coach is Kelly’s right-hand man.
Maybe Davis shouldn’t shoulder the entire blame.
As mad as I am about that game, I will gladly blame the entire defensive staff.
Now that is a bon idea. j’accord.
The loss against San Diego was bad, but LOL GIANTS.
Man, this is a lot of negative in these comments. It’s the second game of a rebuilding season, we lost by 3, but it gave the coaches a lot of great teaching tape. We knew the secondary was going to be bad, and that last week was to some (huge) extent due to RG3 being broken.
This isn’t the team yet. Vick isn’t the franchise QB, Sopoaga isn’t the dreadnaught NT, and I see one DB, Boykin, I have any hope for in 2 years. (RIP Nate Allen. What happened to the guy who got 2 INTs in his first 2 games int he NFL?)
Agreed.
And really, if our kicker had recovered that fumbled KO return, we probably win. (If he hits the missed kick, we probably go to OT.) I’m not hanging it on the kicker, just saying it was a close one for a rebuilding team.
Not sure anyone really cares that much, but a bit of positive thinking is always welcome. So anyway, there is at least one good thing about our defense, it seems like they can create some turnovers. It’s only two games into the season, but hopefully they can keep that part up.
With your Defense unable to stop Rivers and with a little over 2 minutes left in the game, Kelly made a huge mistake passing the ball 3 times in a row on that last possession. Even had Foles throw a pass! Basically burned up a few seconds of time, when he could have burned up over a minute or force SD to burn time outs by running the ball or throwing short passes.
How many points are the Broncos going to hang on this defense in 2 weeks in Denver?
It will be fascinating to see the Over/Under in that game. Don’t think I have ever seen an O/U that has been 70 in an NFL game.
We are going to score and try to keep up, but they will probably hit 50
Don’t blame them as much as Davis. They’re not being put in position to succeed (by attacking gaps).
I’ll admit that my initial reaction after a loss usually blows things out of proportion, but I’m much better a few hours later. This loss does not shake my confidence in Chip. Sure, I disagree with him on a few things here and there, but I still think he’s getting the team pointed in the right direction.
The Eagles didn’t lose because Chip made a boneheaded decision. They lost simply because the defense couldn’t stop the Chargers offense at all. This shouldn’t surprise us. It’s Week Two of Year One for a rebuilding team. San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Washington were freakish exceptions to the general rule that rebuilding takes awhile. We knew the defense would struggle at times during the year. They still need a lot of pieces and it’s going to take a few years to bring in the right personnel for the defense. The offense, even with some mistakes today, still looked light years better than last year’s offense. Jimmy Johnson’s Cowboys went 1-15 his first year, and then became the dynasty we hated so much. I’m not suggesting we’re going to be as successful as them, but my point is that early failures aren’t necessarily good indicators of what a coach can do later. Step One is to set the foundation for success. I think Chip has done that somewhat already, and will continue to do so throughout the season. Step Two is to fix the glaring weaknesses that couldn’t be fixed in Year One. That will be his real test.
Tommy, when you look at the tape, I’d be interested in whether we saw much of the spread option action in the first half. Mostly it looked to me like we were in classic NFL passing plays.